Student Led Conferences

I know it seems early to start talking about assessment, but it is an on-going thing that needs to be done in order to communicate successes and concerns with parents. Meetings can begin with the meet the teacher night and continue both formally and informally throughout the year.  It used to be easy to meet up with parents at the beginning or end of the day, but nowadays, so many parents are working that it is more difficult to connect with them face to face.

Meetings with the parents and sharing successes and concerns about students can be very helpful, but preparing for the meetings can be time consuming and stressful. In past years, formal conferences in our district were held once a year in the late fall. Recently this changed and conferences are now held in the fall and in the spring.

Many teachers still use a parent/teacher format, but I have found that the student-led model is far more effective. I am retired now, but this is the model I used for over 20 years and the feedback was always positive and very helpful.

I have created the following package that contains the materials I used. It has been updated this year and is more current now.

It is important to begin by sending home a letter to parents explaining what a student-led conference is and why you think it is beneficial. See the letter below.

As mentioned in the letter, a conference folder is prepared for each student. In this folder, the student's work, assessments, self-evaluations, and selected materials are kept. There is also an agenda for the day along with a math or language activity to be done with the parents, a letter template for the parent to use at the end of the conference, and a reflection sheet for the parents to complete and leave with the teacher.

Here are some of the assessments to use as well as the letter template and reflection form for the parent. I have made the forms with either a girl or a boy on them as well.

It is important that the children be prepared for the conferences, so do some role playing ahead of time. They get a kick out of being the parents and the child, so it is fun for them to do. You may have up to 3 families in the room at a time, so when doing role play, try to model that as well.

If you are not sure about doing student-led conferences, I encourage you to give them a try. You will be amazed at how valuable and positive they can be.